The reason some businesses don't have a business plan is because they either don't know where to start, or can't find the time. Now is the time to stop working so hard IN your business and get to work ON it. Michael Gerber, renowned author of 'The E Myth' says that most businesses fail because people that are good at what they "do" (the technical work) think they can also run a business that does that kind of work. But, says Gerber, the technical work of a business and a business that does that technical work are two totally different things.
So you need to decide right now where your talent really lies, and whether you can take the time to learn what you don't know, or enlist support from other people or organisations. Either way, you need to develop a plan.
The time it takes to develop a business plan will be returned to you tenfold once you have some guiding principles in place to help you make sound, effective and efficient decisions. A cellar door business plan should integrate seamlessly into your whole of business plan and it should become the tool that drives strategic growth and against which to measure your progress.
Starting Questions
Sometimes the best way to make a start on your Business Plan is to ask yourself some questions and write down the answers.
- Where am I now? (A snapshot of your business)
What are the main reasons I am here? (Major factors that influenced current position)
- Where do I want to be? (Identify the products, prices, positioning and volumes you need to achieve)
- Who is buying my product/visiting my cellar door? (Describe the target markets that are attracted to your offer)
- How do they hear about me? (Current source of business - such as referral, advertising, media, through trade presence)
- How could I get more of those customers? (Increasing customers within the current customer profile)
- What other customers do I want to attract? (Appealing to customers of a different profile)
- Where are those customers currently going, or what other activities are they engaging in? (Existing winery visitors going somewhere else or lifestyle consumers currently doing other things)
- How can I get them to hear/know about me? (Marketing and communications strategy)
- What specific events, publications, promotions, and media will I undertake?
- What is the rationale for doing each of these?
What results can I expect?
- What are the specific actions needed to make these happen?
- Who will undertake the tasks?
- When will they be done by?
- How much money can I afford to spend on them? (% of gross revenue allocated to marketing based on projected sales growth target)
- What criteria will I use to measure the results?
- When will I next review and revise the plan
For most wineries increasing the size of the customer base is as vital as increasing the average yield per existing customer. Your Business Plan will provide the guidelines to ensure stock availability for the anticipated growth in customers.
Based on the answers to your questions, you can begin drafting your Business & Marketing Plan.
In this Section:
- Use sample templates to create your Business & Marketing Plan, & Risk Management Plan
- Use the Competitor Analysis Template to determine your current position and formulate your strategy
